Welcome to Week 7 of our Sunday Blog series! Now that you’re thinking about the wins that come with new skills, let’s talk productivity. This blog shows how smarter workflows and better tools — including Office — can help you work less hard and more effectively. 👉 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗹𝗼𝗴: https://www.smartskillsacademy.net/post/working-for-yourself-here-s-how-to-work-smarter-not-harder 🤔𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: What’s your favourite productivity hack that saves you time each week?

One of the most rewarding parts of providing support and training for people is seeing how people use what they’ve learned in real life, so I’m going to start sharing a weekly testimonial - some will be for coaching and some will be when I have got my geek on! Today’s testimonial is from a lovely member in our community - @Janet Wilson! Janet is a business owner, NLP practitioner (soon to be master!) and fellow Skool owner. Janet has been brought up in office environments but is hungry to squeeze every drop of efficiency out of her day - so took some of my formal courses to help maximise her skills 🤩. If you’ve had a win, big or small, and you’re happy for me to share your feedback, feel free to message me. I read every single one, honestly they mean a lot to me and I hope it gives others the courage to take the first step into their learning journey 🥰

I wanted to take a moment to explain how the different plans work in the community, so everyone knows what to expect and where things live. Nothing complicated – just clarity 💛 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 (𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲) This is the heart of the community and will always remain active. Standard members get: - Weekly learning posts and practical skill tips - Friendly support and encouragement from me and the community - Confidence-building help for everyday tech skills - Regular free mini courses and presentations across Word, Excel, PowerPoint and AI Free content isn’t a one-off – something new will always be happening here. Some classroom content may be available for a limited time, so it’s worth popping back to the community frequently if you’re on the free plan. 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘂𝗺 Premium is for people who want a bit more continuity, confidence, and early access – without going all-in. Premium members get: - Everything included in Standard - Early access to weekly mini courses and presentations before they’re released more widely - Weekly “You Ask, Gemma Answers” posts The Ask Gemma posts are for judgement and direction – things like: - “Does this presentation make sense?” - “Am I over engineering this formula?” - “How can I improve the flow of this document?” - “What prompt shall I use to get the outcome with AI?” They’re about clarity and reassurance rather than step-by-step how-tos. Premium members also don’t need to worry about content disappearing after a window – anything released early stays available to them indefinitely. 𝗩𝗜𝗣 VIP is the full learning pathway and ongoing support. VIP members get: - Everything included in Premium - Full access to all associate-level courses for Excel, Word, PowerPoint and AI. Course information and samples are available at smartskillsacademy.net - Access to Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint tests. Course information and samples are available at smartskillsacademy.net - Live weekly AI training calls, with recordings included.

What’s your favourite season? The UK is on a record breaking spell at the moment for rain! I’ve enlisted AI, of course, to give us a summary - it’s hard going when your a fair weather kinda gal! So let’s have some fun - what’s your favourite season? Answer in gifs! I’m sure you can guess what Mine is - it’s in the first comment!

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!🎉 I asked the community what content you would like and am now working to meet your requests. To that end I have created a new presentation for the community. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗜 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝗣𝗿𝗼 - This presentation explores how small changes in the way you communicate with AI can dramatically improve the quality of responses you receive. Using clear examples, you will learn how to set constraints, define your audience, control tone, refine outputs, and structure results more effectively. No technical knowledge required – just practical techniques that help you gain more clarity, consistency, and control when working with AI tools. Either head to the classroom or click the link below and enjoy ⬇️ https://www.skool.com/smart-skills-academy-9059/classroom/6c2c923c 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲 - This content will be open and available to all members until Friday 6th March. After that, it will become locked and visible for those at Level 3 and above until Friday 20th March. Premium & VIP members will get early and continued access to this training. What to upgrade your plan? Please click here.